Alien

The 1979 Kenner Alien is one of the most sought after Alien movie collectibles. When the toy was first on shelves, it had a lot going against it, including the fact that the movie was rated R. Parents also thought the toy too frightening or ugly for children, and since the children weren’t that aware of the movie, demand was low.The result was that few were actually sold through. Besides being rare, the Kenner Alien is usually found loose and damaged, as it is a very poorly made toy. The back spikes often break off, especially the top center one, as well the tail, which is attached by a sharp metal ring inside the body which tends to cut off the plastic anchor. The translucent dome that covers the alien head is often lost, which has led to a none too small market in replacement domes. The interior set of teeth, which can thrust out the the aliens mouth by a lever, are also frequently missing. The arms are attached by rubber rings that also get brittle with age, occasionally leaving the alien an amputee.

The usual poor condition of the alien has resulted in boxed ones selling for over $500 $1000, while loose complete ones go for upwards of $300 $600.

Alien Toy Instructions and Poster

Not usually found with a loose Alien, this is the instruction sheet that came with it, documenting the jaw opening lever, the glow in the dark brain case, and the limited poseability of the alien’s wrists and tail.On the opposite side, the poster highlights the face hugger, Riply with the cat, the sleep chamber, an opening egg, and Dallas peering at the Juggernaut.

Alien Game

A relatively common Alien collectable from 1979 is this board game, which takes players through the Nostromo and the wrecked Juggernaut space craft

Movie Viewer

Although this item from the movie isn’t easily found, it doesn’t necessarily sell for too much. The movie viewer is typical of many others like it from the ’70s, the user turns a crank and a mini film strip from the film is shown. Considering the audience for the film, it is surprising that so many kiddie toys were made for it.

54 thoughts on “Alien”

Kenner’s Alien might not the toy with the biggest play value but in my opinion it is the most beautiful action figure ever created! The toy perfectly captures Giger’s design and like Toyfare magazine once wrote – ‘A very creepy toy that doesn’t even need a touch of color’ (…well, the glow-in-the-dark “face” aside) and in over 20 years and 4 toylines featuring Aliens it’s still the best toy yet.

I really wish another company would get the rights from whoever currently owns the copyright from Kenner to reproduce this figurine but make it far better than the original, as far as the connecting the parts go, to ensure that everything is solid and stays together. Keep the original design of course, or even better it based upon the detail of the original movie figure in the movie. And keep it the same size as the original as well.
And even reproduce the original box for it to come in for authenticity’s sake.
That would be wonderful to purchase a complete reproduction of the original product and you can bet that it would be a great seller. I know I would certainly buy it for my collection.
And yes I do have the original Alien figurine as well in mint condition, in the original box, with everything inside, never opened, with the original two Canadian price stickers from Zellers on the top of the box, all of the parts of the figurine still connected together, and the plastic on the top and front of the box still attached, but the front plastic is attached now only on the top, due to the age of it of course. The glue does eventually dry out with age. I have never taken it out of the box and never will you can be sure of that. And sorry it is not for sale and never will be. The movie “Alien” by director Ridley Scott, a wonderful director, is considered by me to be my second all time best Science Fiction movie, my best movie of all time being, also directed by Ridley Scott, “Blade Runner” (1982), but the Final Cut version, the fifth version, is the way in the end that Ridley Scott wanted it to be.

a 3 3/4 inch line of figs were supposed to follow but for the same reasons mentioned above, were never produced, however several prototypes/hardcopys were made by kenner, anything from this line is currently at the top of my personal wantlist!

I would love to buy your alien Gina, but with gas prices what they are, my disposable income is somewhat curtailed. It should sell quickly on ebay however. If you are interested in a trade, I have a Wii and some games…

Rick …thank you for your response I would like to be able to trade but the economy has taken its toll on me too… that is why I decided to see if I got any responses …thank you for the tip about ebay…Maybe I’ll give that a try………..thanks again …Gina

I still have the Alien from 1979. Yes, the back spike did break off, the dome got lost and I had to glue the left arm back in the slot and I think the inner jaw may have gotten lost. Anyway, it is in my parent’s attic and I am going to retrieve it and bring in back here. I was 12 when the toy was out and I loved the movie. So the movie was rated R? The toys are not. I would think today’s kids would love to have that Alien toy. Kids play games that are far more violent and gory than Alien. By the way, Reel Toy launced an 18″ Alien figure and it is a beautiful statue. So much better made than the Kenner doll.

I proudly display it in my home and will do the same when I get the original.

Hello! In Canada when I had bought it at the time originally when it first became available in Canada it sold at the Zellers store for $19.99 CANADIAN DOLLARS. And at the time I got it on sale for SPECIAL $9.97. Of course the price was eventually reduced because it wasn’t selling. I don’t have the original receipt unfortunately now, but this is based on the two price stickers that were on the top of box enclosing the 12 inch. figure. As mentioned on this article that I had previously read due to the nature of the figure, and this movie wasn’t known to children, and the fact that the movie was Rated R, and the figure being so weird and scary for children, of which the parents didn’t approve of, not much of these ended up being sold. So then they of course tried to get rid of them at the time.
And of course at the time figurines weren’t really popular to the general public like they are now (teens, adults, Science Fiction crowd, etc.).

Here are what the two price stickers look like on the top of the original box that holds the figurine for your reference:

Sticker #1:

11 Zellers 1121
51011708
$19.99

Sticker #2 (Sale Sticker):

11

Zellers
SPECIAL
1121 $9.97

And on the box you had a transparent plastic portion to view the figurine from the top, and a transparent plastic viewing portion to view it from the front.

And on the box on the upper right it states: AGES 5 AND UP
POUR 5 ANS ET PLUS

Below the transparent front is written:

Warning! ALIEN is here!
Attention! est arrive!

And at the bottom of the front of the box:

ALIEN KENNER

Believe it or not on the bottom of the box it states:

General Mills
CPG PRODUCTIONS CORP
ALIEN TM

Interesting Note: As we probably all know this is the company that sells us our morning breakfast cereals. How did they get involved in this?

On the side of the box is the Product No.:

No. 70060
280001

As well on the right side of the box it states:

46 cm poseable action figure!
Figure articulee 46 cm

And there is all other sorts of information on the sides of the box for the interested buyer.
Thought this would be of interest to you all.
Would like to get any feedback on this!

Some of you may have seen a post and reply about a transaction between to private parties. As I have no way of verifying the veracity of either post, both have been removed.

I am happy to have people post their eBay auctions when relevant and arrange to exchange toys for money or other toys via the site, but in all cases, remember, caveat emtor. (which I may have miss spelled)

Anyone know where to find replacement Domes. I’m looking for the Tsukuda 18″ dome replacement, however I think I might be able to make do with a Kenner replacement. My e mail is zebcreed@gmail.com. Thanks

when i was just 4 years old my father thought it would be a great idea to take me to the premier of the movie, lol. needless to say after that i had one of these after seeing the movie and it used to be my teddy bear. of course i don’t know what happened to him over the years. although i just recently purchased a loose one missing the dome. but i am happy with having this beautiful piece of work back in my hands. however i do wish kenner or some other company would do a remake of this toy. granted there are faithful reproductions of the original h.r. giger alien design by neca, hot toys, slideshow, mefarlane. and i have a couple of those as well. but to have a brand new version of this one would be cool.

If the metal anchor is still in the arm, the easiest way to reattach the arms is unscrew the Alien’s back, get a high quality hair band (like for pony tails) and attach it to the metal anchor then wrap it around the inside post where you screw the back into place.

Hey Bugeyed, I saw the first Alien movie with me son who was about 8years old at the time. I also bought him the plastic figure and the handheld viewer as well. My son was really afraid of the Alien at first. I think I still have the model inmy basement, not sure. Thanks for the memeories.

You are incorrect as far as the copyright date goes on the box.
At the bottom right side of the box as you are looking at it from the front of the box it is stated c. 1979.
That is the year that the movie “Alien” came out, not 1977.

I owened a boxed Kenner 1979 Alien form 1995 to 2000 .Kenner did an amazing job on this ,why I sold it I will never know?? the prices now are throught the roof avarage $ 2,000 dollars minimum for a boxed one with the poster .I believe I paid $435.00 back in 1995 for it and that was alot of $$$$

Yes, the boxed 1979 Kenner Alien is now going for more than $2000. I know. I bought one. My “loose” AFA-graded Kenner 1979 Alien figures are at the high end of all ever graded so far. I also bought an unpunched vinyl-cape 12-back SW Jawa in 1993 for $250 from an unopened case. I sold it for $2100 in 2000. We make bad decisions at times.

These beautifully-realized Kenner 18″ action figures are difficult to find loose and complete now. That is because the material used was cheap cheap cheap, and Kenner removed them from the shelves because of protests from some outraged parents for its marketing toys for an R-rated movie to kids like myself in 1979 (btw, I thought it was the coolest Christmas present ever when I was 9). H. R. Giger’s drawings were recreated three-dimensionally by the company in spectacular detail. It is still arguably the most impressive action figure ever in terms of detail at least for its time and size. I have so far two loose examples and one boxed: all AFA-graded. If you can snag one on eBay in decent condition and complete, think about going for it. The best examples will never be any cheaper.

I have this Alien ever since I was young and it is still in great condition, sad to say I no longer have the box it came in but like I said it is in great condition and I am willing to sell. Just let me know.

Hi ! Sorry for my very late answer !
Thank you for your reply.
The fact is that I bought it in France, and there is a “Meccano France” mention printed (for the garanties norms or something like that) on the box. But there is also a “Kenner Products Canada” mention printed. So I was wondering if the Meccano France mention was on every Canadian releases… :/

Hi!
Yes as far as the Canadian release of the box I have stated all of that information above to another contributor, once they approve of it, and make the information available to you all. I should have stated that it was bought at the time in:
Ottawa, Ontario. Canada.

Guess what! I didn’t realize before but here is the new information that you were requesting.
I just found it on the right side of the box if it is facing me.
Character/Personnage c. 1979 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp,

I tried to type it out as I had seen it on the box side by side but now do to your set up it has mixed the one on the left side with the one on the right side.
Hopefully you can sort it out, or else I will have to email the information again properly separated from each other.
Please tell me later if I need to do so.
Regards.

I have one, only thing missing is the dome but otherwise in good condition free stands and arms stay in place when posed. It has a coating of glow in the dark paint on it and that’s why I came here to see if they were ever sold like this, the paint is like nothing that’s available to the public. It glows super bright and is very thin, hardly even noticeable under normal lighting.

I have it posted for sale on eBay right now 4-2-2015 under zinda2010 eBay sellers ID.
asking $225 with a variety of shipping services offered.

No missing spines and the jaws work, free stands without using the tail to support it. Been only used for display for the last 20 years, storage for the last 7 years. Never has been played with or touched by kids, no idea where the dome went I’m still searching through bins in hopes to find it.

I never thought of this before but maybe at the time they meant for it to be able to glow under a, what do call it, a “Dark Light” or whatever it is properly called now. Can anyone tell me what the proper term is for these light(s). I think there are two types of these now. One from the 1960’s or later, and one that is currently available now.

Got one of these from a friend when the movie came out. Would put it out on my desk during month-end close (I was an accountant) to keep people away while I worked.
Still have all of it, although the rubber pieces that held the arms on rotted and broke ages ago. But the dome still fits, covers the glow-in-the-dark paint, which still will glow, and all the back pieces (four stubs and a spike,) are attached and move and return when touched.

(I was always a long-hair, so I always had a few hair-ties with me, which also kept the dome on the head of the figure. Which is why I never lost it.)

And the second set of chromed teeth still work, from the trigger under the back of the head. Very handy for giving folks a brief surprise.
I’ve always feared disassembling the body to reattach the arms somehow. Worried that it was glued together as well as with the screws.

So is the disassembly/reassembly as simple as implied by Rick The “BEM”?

To Magic ZaB:
Sorry I cannot take pictures of box as I don’t have a digital camera.
No idea what the production was in Canada. Would be interesting to know.
And how many were distributed to the stores until they were taken off the shelves.
Sorry I cannot help you there.
I even wonder if Kenner is still around in fact, or was their company taken over by another, or are they now defunct.

Hi Wayne.
Ok, if you can take a pucture someday, it would be great 😀 I’d love to compare with mine and share informations with you 😉
If you find informations about distribution, production, or any interesting one, let me know please. I just know that in France some hundred of had been sold for a while. Probably Canadian release. But the printed Meccano mention is weird. Did they have the intention to distribute it in France later ? I don’t know..

I have a Kenner alien action figure boxed from 1979 but can’t seem to find the exact same thing anywhere online. I also have a Ripley figure from the same set boxed. I’m very curious to see how much they are worth. If anyone is interested in what I have here, or if you could possibly help, you can email me on {email removed}

I will send you pictures. If anyone can help I would very much appreciate it.